Anti-Japanese War Espionage: I Have an Omniscient Perspective

After wiping and putting away the dagger, Lin Rui walked to the Buddha statue in the center of the pharmacy.

This is a wooden sculpture of Guan Yu, his left hand holding a sword behind him, his right hand stroking his beard, exuding an imposing aura without anger.

Lin Rui ran his fingertips along the edge of the base; it was perfectly smooth and seemed to have no moving mechanisms.

He recalled using his supernatural abilities to see Lao Zhou activating the mechanism, and then did the same.

Hold the statue and lift it upwards.

With a soft click, the base of the statue was lifted up, then turned half a circle to the left, and then turned around once more.

The hidden compartment behind the statue was opened.

He reached inside and took everything out without looking at it closely. He then wrapped it in a cloth, tied it to his body, and turned to leave the pharmacy.

It was quiet outside the pharmacy.

The two spies have returned to their original positions and hidden themselves.

Lin Rui climbed over the wall into the empty house, and then climbed out from the other side.

They evaded the police under the watchful eye of their supernatural abilities and quietly returned to the hotel.

It was past 2 a.m. when I got back to my hotel room.

Lin Rui sat on the bed in a daze for a while, then took off the bundle and took out the contents to examine them.

Three gold bars weighing one tael each. In this era, one jin (500 grams) was 16 taels, and one tael of gold bar weighed only a little over 31 grams. It was also known as "small yellow croaker" in folk terms.

Three small yellow croakers were a form of hard currency during wartime, worth at least 360 yuan, or even more, in legal tender.

There was also an M1910 pistol and a notebook with no words on the cover.

Lin Rui picked up the notebook and opened it.

This is a codebook.

The Secret Service's codebooks were divided into three levels: Top Secret, Secret, and Confidential.

Given Lao Zhou's rank, it would naturally be classified as secret.

Lin Rui flipped through the pages.

Each page is divided into two columns: the left column contains plain text characters, and the right column contains the corresponding four-digit numeric code.

Just like looking up a word in a dictionary, you write down the 4-digit code of the corresponding word, and then the other party uses the same codebook to compile it and restore it to the text.

For example, Lin Rui's code "two trees make a forest" corresponds to the numerical password "1258 3492 2071 5639".

However, since Lao Zhou was arrested, this codebook is now in a state of constant danger of being leaked and has no value.

Lin Rui flipped through the pages, hoping to find some useful information.

The last third is blank and can be used for note-taking.

Old Zhou then began to use it as a diary.

Lin Rui read these diaries with great interest, hoping to find something useful.

The diary begins with the establishment of the undercover team.

The initial records were mostly trivial matters, such as receiving the codebook, meeting with team members, and receiving verbal encouragement from superiors.

Later, he began to record things about the police, gangs, and high-ranking French officials in the French Concession.

Later, things started involving Lin Rui.

There were other group members as well.

Regarding Lin Rui, Lao Zhou commented in his diary.

"I received a new team member today. He's very young, and I don't know why he was assigned to my team."

"From observing him these past few days, I've found Lin Rui to be energetic, quick to learn, and proactive. He might be a good helper for me."

"Today, Lin Rui returned from his first liaison mission, and he mentioned Su Wan's request. Should I tell him that Su Wan has close ties with the Shanghai Women's Salvation Association? No, Su Wan's matter hasn't been clarified yet, and I can't let others know that I'm secretly investigating Su Wan."

Lin Rui was stunned. So that's why Lao Zhou deliberately ignored Su Wan's request. What kind of organization is the Shanghai Women's Salvation Association? It sounds like a patriotic group.

He continued reading.

"Shanghai has fallen. The higher-ups moved out of the Sanji Radio Training Center, and all the agents in Shanghai went into hiding. I'm a little panicked. Su Wan is an uncertain factor, as is the newcomer Lin Rui."

"Today I went to Avenue Joffre to ask the stationmaster about Lin Rui's situation. He actually drove a tank and killed many Japanese soldiers on the battlefield. It's impossible for the Japanese to buy off such a person."

Avenue Joffre!

Lin Rui was excited; he had finally found useful information: after withdrawing from the Sanji Training Institute, the Shanghai station of the Fuxing Society's Special Service Department should be hiding somewhere on Avenue Joffre.

But Avenue Joffre is a very large area, and it's impractical to search for each shop one by one, so he continued to look through the listings.

There are no more entries in the diary.

But there was a note tucked inside.

The note was covered in numbers.

It must have been a secret letter that Lao Zhou received after meeting with someone.

With a try-it-and-see attitude, Lin Rui converted these numbers into a 4-digit password.

He spread out his codebook, his fingertips pointing across the paper as he broke down the strings of numbers segment by segment.

Divide the characters into four groups such as "2314 4508 1967 3289..." and then search for matching Chinese characters one by one by comparing them with the plaintext characters in the left column of the codebook.

At first, I was a little clumsy, but after flipping through a couple of pages, I gradually became more skilled, and line after line of deciphered text slowly appeared on the paper.

More than half an hour later, the entire sequence of numbers was deciphered. Lin Rui stared at the text on the paper, silently reciting each word.

[Upon receiving orders from the headquarters, immediately prepare to infiltrate the Shanghai Drama Circles Salvation Association. Ostensibly an association for literary and artistic salvation, it is in reality a Communist intelligence station. Reliable personnel must be planted to understand its internal workings and simultaneously monitor Japanese and puppet regime infiltration activities. The Suzhou Evening News has contact with women's salvation groups; they can be prioritized for contact. Progress reports should be submitted weekly. Reporting location: near the intersection of Xiafei Road East and Gro Road, at the Dafang Stationery Store. Password: Buy "double-line notebooks," reply "Only single-line notebooks left, can order them for you." Remember, the operation must be secretive; do not overlap with other infiltration groups.]

This text was the secret order that Lao Zhou received from his superiors. At this critical juncture, the order from above was still about internal strife, which made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.

However, the contact point mentioned in the secret letter was Lin Rui's most important gain this time.

He decided to go to the contact point tomorrow.

Feeling tired, I packed my things and went to bed to rest.

..........

The following morning, with the curfew lifted, Avenue Joffre returned to its bustling state.

The noise penetrated the window and woke Lin Rui.

He got up, stretched his limbs, and then drew back the curtains.

The streets were bustling with traffic, the sounds of rickshaw bells and vendors' shouts mingling together.

It's time to go.

Lin Rui drew the curtains, wrapped the gold bars and pistols one by one in soft cloth, and put them into the rattan suitcase along with the codebook, then fastened the buckle.

I closed the door, took out the key, and went to the front desk.

"I want to check out."

"If you check out before the due date, I won't make you pay the difference." The landlady smiled as she put away the keys and returned the deposit to Lin Rui.

After descending the stairs, Lin Rui strolled along the street, his gaze sweeping over the shops lining the street.

After walking for a while, I caught a glimpse of a wooden sign that read "Dafang Stationery Store" hanging diagonally ahead, which was only about 200 meters away from the hotel.

He paused outside the shop for a moment without making a sound, looking around at the small storefront, which was flanked by general stores and tailor shops, with a constant flow of pedestrians.

According to his supernatural perception, neither the customers nor the staff in the store showed any unusual behavior.

Then, he picked up his rattan trunk and stepped into the shop.